President Trump's bid to topple Iran's regime marks a sharp break from two decades of U.S. intervention playbooks across multiple presidencies.
The big picture: Trump's weekend strikes on Iran — and his explicit call for an uprising — diverge from how the U.S. approached regime pressure in Iraq and Venezuela, historians tell Axios. The gamble signals a more unpredictable stretch of his foreign policy ahead as he openly threatens force elsewhere.

• The U.S. and Israel announced Saturday that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, was killed in an Israeli strike — throwing the future of the country's government into immediate uncertainty.

State of play: Trump announced military strikes against Iran on Saturday and vaguely called for Iranian people to overtake their government following months of their demanding a regime change amid worsening economic conditions.

• The attacks were a result of failed diplomacy over Iran's nuclear weapon supply as tensions mounted between the countries through Trump's second term.

After announcing the operation Saturday, Trump addressed Iranians in a video: "When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations."

• Trump exclusively told Axios the "off ramps" he envisions: "I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days and tell the Iranians: 'See you again in a few years if you start rebuilding [your nuclear and missile programs]."

Reality check: Trump's Iran play is different than the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 under former President George W. Bush and the seizure of Venezuela's leader Nicolás Maduro in January — two instances where the U.S. took a more direct hand in dismantling a government's power structure.

Continued below.

In February 1777, Thomas Jefferson helped establish an Evangelical church. What? Yes, that Thomas Jefferson. It was called the Calvinisitical Reformed Church of Charlottesville. And it met in the local courthouse. Why, that’s enough to give the ACLU apoplexy.

This was less than a year after he wrotethe first draft of the Declaration of Independence.

It’s important to understand that the early Thomas Jefferson was much more faithful to his professed Christian faith than we are led to believe.

Yes, he harbored serious doubts later in life. But the early Jefferson who wrotethat “all men are created equal” and who referenced God in our nation’s chief founding document was by all outward appearances, a believing Christian.

This is important to grasp because, for the last century or so, Thomas Jefferson has often been portrayed as some sort of lifelong skeptic. And that is not true.

Continued below.

The Austin Police Department says that 3 people are dead, including the suspect, and 14 were injured after a shooting just before 2 a.m.

Continued below.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Kathy Ireland was 18, and alone in a Paris apartment when she opened a Bible her mother had tucked into her suitcase.

“I’d never read one before,” the 62-year-old former supermodel told The Christian Post. “I opened to the book of Matthew, and as I read, I knew that what I had in my hands was the truth. I just thought, I want to follow Him. I want to follow Jesus.”

It was 1981. Ireland had just begun modeling, a career that would eventually make her one of the most recognizable faces in the nation. But she said the moment of encountering Jesus reshaped how she understood success.

“If God is with us, who can be against us?” she said. “I didn’t care who liked me or didn’t like me. He loved me. What else mattered?”

Continued below.

March 1, 2026

Morning Prayers

Our Morning Offering – 1 March– Glory, Honour and Praise, To Our Lord Jesus Christ!

1 March – The Month of the St Joseph

March 1st — The Foreshadowing of St. Joseph

Divinum Officium

Second Sunday in Lent propers & commentary

Second Sunday of Lent propers & commentary (Gueranger)


Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's instruction on the Second Sunday in Lent (Reminiscere)

Scripture & Tradition: Second Sunday in Lent

Daily Gospel

The Transformative Collect of the Second Sunday of Lent

On Heaven: sermon on the second Sunday of Lent

LENTCAzT 2026 – 12: 2nd Sunday in Lent – Benedict XVI from Lent of sad 2013

The Second Sunday of Lent – 1 March – Our Lenten Journey With St Thomas Aquinas – God the Father Delivered Christ to His Passion

Second Sunday of Lent - St. David, Bishop & St. Albinus, Bishop

Saints of the Day

Sermons for Everyday Living - 2nd Sunday of Lent 3/1/26

Roman Station - Holy Mary in Domnica
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Audio version of Gueranger
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Full transcript of Pahlavi’s statement to the Iranian people

This is the full transcript of a statement delivered by Reza Pahlavi, an Iranian political activist and dissident in exile in the United States, who is also referred to as the exiled Crown Prince of Iran and the eldest son of the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, upon the start of a joint U.S.-Israeli military operation against the Iranian regime on Saturday morning.

My dear compatriots,

Moments of destiny lie ahead of us.

The aid that the President of the United States promised to the brave people of Iran has now arrived. This is a humanitarian intervention; and its target is the Islamic Republic, its repressive apparatus, and its machinery of slaughter—not the country and great nation of Iran.

But even with the arrival of this aid, the final victory will still be forged by our hands. It is we, the people of Iran, who will finish the job in this final battle. The time to return to the streets is near.

Continued below.

War does not solve problems, but rather it amplifies them and produces deep wounds in the history of people that take generations to heal," he said. "No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future."

"Let diplomacy silence the weapons," Pope Leo said. "Let nations chart their future with works of peace, not with violence and bloody conflicts!"

Democrats are weighing how to target corporations that have courted President Donald Trump’s approval if they retake the House after the midterm elections.

Semafor reported that, given Democrats’ chances of retaking the House, top Democrats are now devising how to focus on alleged corruption in the Trump administration amongst other issues in their investigative agenda.

“There’s opportunities to look at not just corporations that we think are enabling some of Trump’s corruption, but certainly corporations that are not supporting American families and not really focusing on affordability,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, said.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said he might focus on potential violations of the Emoluments Clause, which bars the president from receiving gifts from foreign powers or American taxpayers.

“The cardinal, original sin of Trump was to decide that he was going to use the presidency as a profit-making enterprise in his first term, and I would say that Congress should have impeached him for receiving millions and millions of dollars from foreign governments,” Raskin remarked.

Continued below.

The physical nation called “Israel” is a political entity comprised of mostly Jews, most all of whom do not believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they do not believe in Jesus Christ, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Only about 2% of the population of physical political Israel identify as Christian. So the nation, as a singular unit, does not worship the God of their ancestors, thus they are antichrist.

[Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19; Matthew 21:43; John 8:18-19,38-47; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans 11:1-36; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; Ephesians 3:1-6; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 2:22; Jude 1:5; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9]

So, according to the Scriptures, taught in the correct biblical context, all Jews who have rejected Jesus Christ as their Lord and Messiah are not biblical Israel. They are not God’s chosen people, his holy nation. Now all who believe in Jesus Christ, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth, are God’s chosen people and heirs of the promise made to Abraham and to his seed, Jesus Christ. We are biblical Israel, the only Israel of God.

But somewhere along the line in human history someone began teaching Christians that they were to raise up the Jewish people to some kind of honorary status almost in a worshipful kind of sense to where they were convinced that the physical and political nation of Israel was still biblically God’s holy nation, his people, and a people that we should give our loyalty, devotion, and support to, as though they are still God’s chosen people.

But that is a lie. For the Scriptures do not support that. And they teach that all Jews who do not believe in Jesus Christ are the same as anyone else who does not believe in Jesus Christ, so they are the same as their Arab neighbors. And the holy city is no longer in physical Jerusalem, because the vast majority of the Jews are still living in slavery to sin and not as obedient servants of the Lord Jesus Christ (see Galatians 4:22-31).

And the temple of God has not been a physical building ever since Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross, and he rose from the dead, and he ascended back to the Father in heaven, and he sent his Holy Spirit to indwell the lives of his followers. We are now the temple of God in whom God dwells by his Spirit, and Jesus is the temple of God, so there will never be another temple of God, for God does not dwell in physical buildings.

And God has only one chosen people, and that is all who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives, whether Jew or Gentile by physical birth. Only through faith in Jesus Christ can any of us be God’s chosen people and his holy nation, and only if we have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as obedient servants of our God.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Should I Not Preach Jesus

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.

Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.

So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.

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God’s Chosen People
An Original Work / March 1, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

NGUYEN TRUNG TON​

VIETNAM​

Charged With​

‘Carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government’

Family Situation​

Pastor Nguyen is married with children

Create a print friendly pdf of this profile.​

(Source: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, VOM Canada, Geneva Summit)
Protestant pastor and freedom of religion activist Nguyen Trung Ton, was arrested on July 30, 2017 at his home in Thanh Hoa. On April 5, 2018 Pastor Ton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for ‘carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the government’ under Article 79 of the Vietnamese penal code. On June 4, 2018, Pastor Ton and four other defenders had their sentences upheld at an appeal trial. In July 2018 Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton was transferred from a detention centre in Hanoi, to a prison camp in Dak Lak province, about 1,000 km from his home
Pastor Ton has been imprisoned before. In 2011 he was sentenced to two years in prison, on charges of ‘anti-state propaganda’ under Article 88 of the penal code. His real crime was that he had advocated for the right to freedom of religion or belief and had spoken out against social injustices in Vietnam. After his release from prison, he faced numerous instances of harassment from security officials.
In February 2018, Pastor Ton’s son, Nguyen Trung Trong Nghia, addressed the 10th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy to tell the story of the ongoing harassment against his father, his mother’s struggle to sustain the family, and the persecution against independent church leaders. He told the audience: “While in jail, my father has been denied a lawyer. And it was only a few weeks ago, after 6 months, that my mother was able to see my dad. Everybody burst out in tears as my 10-year-old brother started crying because he sees dad. My mom couldn’t hold her tears, thinking of what has been happening for our family for the past 16 years. Ever since we started to be different, ever since we started to stand for what is right, ever since we started to say, ‘enough is enough’.

Ton has various serious health problems. When his wife took a difficult trip to visit him, prison officials blocked her.

Prison Address:​

Gia Trung Prison,
Mang Yang district,
Gia Lai Province
Vietnam

SAMPLE LETTERS TO PRISONERS


Please DO

Write in English and write as neatly as you are able to. Your letter must be legible to be translated (Many people study English, so there will often be someone to translate your letter).

• Express your Christian love and tell them that you are praying for them (then do!) They, in turn, will be praying for you!
• Keep your letter brief and loving – one page is enough.
• Include Bible verses.
• Hand write the address on envelopes accurately and mark it AIRMAIL; make sure the postage is correct.
• You may include a snapshot of yourself, your family or your prayer group if you want to make your letter even more personal and special.

Please DON'T

Do not write about politics or criticise the government.

• Never mention the source of your information or the name of any organisation such as Voice of the Martyrs. It is not dangerous for a prisoner to receive letters from an individual, but if an organisation is mentioned, they may be accused of links with “foreign organisations” and receive even harsher sentences.
• Use words that might imply some kind of hidden activity e.g. “thank you for the Christian work that you have done in Vietnam” might imply that the prisoner had done some covert work for a foreign organisation to subvert the government.
• Build up hopes and expectations of prisoners – and likewise, don’t make any offer of help unless you intend to act on it!
• Use religious jargon, sermonize, or be presumptuous about the prisoner’s situation, needs or feelings.
• Quote verses which refer to war, fighting, armour, weapons (eg ‘the sword of the spirit’, ‘fighting the good fight of faith’, ‘the armour of God’ etc).

US President Donald Trump called for regime change in Tehran, telling Iranians "the hour of your freedom is at hand."

Here's the latest​

• US and Israel strike Iran: The US and Israel have attacked Iran. Israel said its strikes targeted Iran’s supreme leader, president and head of the armed forces. The US is planning for several days of attacks, sources tell CNN.
• Trump calls for regime change:President Donald Trump described the US military campaign as “massive and ongoing,” and warned American lives may be lost. He also called on Iranians to “take over your government.”
• Iran retaliates: Iran launched an unprecedented wave of strikestoward Israel and US targets across the Middle East. Explosions were reported in the UAE, Qatar, Dubai and Bahrain, where video shows the moment a missile struck a US Navy base.
• Global reaction: The United Arab Emirates called the conflict a “historic moment” in the Middle East, saying world leaders had failed to ensure the region’s stability. The leaders of some US allies expressed concern, while some Arab nations condemned Iran’s retaliation.

Continued below.

Holy Spirit, Breath of Life and Source of Peace, we invoke Your presence over the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.

We ask that You descend upon the leaders of these nations, granting them a spirit of wisdom and restraint rather than one of retaliation or pride, so they may turn from the path of violence and move toward a just resolution.

We pray that You would comfort the brokenhearted, protect the innocent civilians on both sides, and shield the vulnerable from the devastation of war, recognizing that all life is sacred and created in Your image.

Break the cycle of hatred, tear down the barriers of suspicion and mistrust, and inspire a culture of dialogue where "swords are beaten into plowshares" and the "lion has roared" no longer in terror but in the declaration of Your sovereign peace.

Holy Spirit, we specifically lift up the protection of believers and the marginalized within both nations, asking that Your grace would slip through every surveillance system and prison wall to bring hope and liberation.

Guide the feet of all inhabitants—Jews, Muslims, and Christians—onto the straight way of mutual affection, so that the Middle East may witness a new dawn where justice rolls like a river and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

♥️

Last time I was at Piedmont Camp Meeting with the older lady playing the camp meeting type piano. Wonderful sound... Too bad she did not have a choir like in times past.

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The resignation of World Economic Forum President Borge Brende is being framed in the press as a simple leadership transition, but the underlying issue is far more revealing about the crisis of confidence now unfolding within global institutions. Brende stepped down after his past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein came to light.

According to reports, the disclosures showed that Brende had “three business dinners with Epstein” and exchanged emails and messages with him, which immediately triggered reputational pressure at the highest level of global governance circles. Brende ultimately stated he chose to resign after “careful consideration,” saying it was the right moment for the Forum to continue its work “without distractions.” That wording alone is telling, because institutions do not speak about “distractions” unless the damage is political and reputational rather than legal in nature.

What we are witnessing fits perfectly within the broader cycle of declining institutional credibility that I have warned about repeatedly. The World Economic Forum has positioned itself as a central pillar of global public-private governance, yet its leadership is now being scrutinized over associations that date back years. The Epstein files have already prompted investigations and fallout across Europe’s political elite, illustrating how deeply interconnected the global policy class has become.

Continued below.

Gentile Status Before Acts 10

Gentiles were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants, having no hope & living without God in the world (Eph 2:11–12).

The Temple's middle wall of partition barred Gentiles from Israel's sacred courts, with DEATH WARNINGS for any uncircumcised foreigner who crossed it (Eph 2:14).

Jesus Himself reflects this covenant boundary when He calls the Canaanite woman a DOG marking Gentile covenant status, not insult (Matt 15:26).

Gentiles were considered ceremonially defiling, Jews would not enter Pilate's Gentile judgment hall to avoid uncleanness (Jn 18:28).

Jesus' Earthly Ministry Was to Israel Only

Jesus was made under the law > to redeem those under the law—Israel (Gal 4:4–5).

Jesus declared: I am ONLY sent to the house of Israel (Matt 15:24).

Jesus affirmed: Salvation is of the Jews (Jn 4:22).

Jesus commanded the 12: Don't go to Gentiles or Samaritans ONLY go to the house of Israel (Matt 10:5–6).

Paul confirms: Jesus Christ was a minister of the JEW/circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers (Rom 15:8).

Jesus' ministry mission operated entirely within Jewish feasts, Jewish cities, Jewish prophecy, Jewish covenant law & Jewish audiences.

Peters Acts 2 Sermon

At & After Pentecost: Gentiles Were Still Excluded
Years after Pentecost, Peter argued 3 times with God about clean vs. unclean in his vision. Before being sent to gentiles (Acts 10:11–17).

Upon arriving at Cornelius's house, Peter says it is UNLAWFUL for a Jew to keep company with or enter the home of a Gentile (Acts 10:28).

Peter & Jewish believers with him were ASTONISHED when the Holy Spirit falls on Gentiles, proving no Gentiles had received the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 10:45).

Even after Cornelius, scattered Jewish believers continued preaching > to Jews only (Acts 11:19).

Jewish Hostility Toward Gentiles
Jews attempt to kill Paul for allegedly bringing Gentiles into the Temple & Roman soldiers must rescue him (Acts 21:28–31).

The crowd listens to Paul peacefully until he says God sent him to the Gentiles & then they erupt again attempting to kill him (Acts 22:21).

Summary Gentile Identity Before Acts 10
Before Acts 10, Gentiles are: strangers, aliens, uncircumcision, afar off, unclean, a people without God, without hope & outside the covenants of Israel (Eph 2:11–12; Hos 1:9–10; 1 Pet 2:10). They were not part of Israel, not part of the covenants & not part of the promises God made to Israel.

New Covenant Begins Peter' Acts 2 Sermon Israel Only
Acts 2, is framed entirely inside Israel's covenant world. Peter's audience ""Men of Judea & all who dwell in Jerusalem"" ""Vs14, Men of Israel Vs22"" define the scope.

We have a Jewish mandatory attend feast, in a Jewish city, fulfilling a Jewish prophecy, under Jewish covenant laws. The commands Peter gives, repent, be baptized & receive the Holy Spirit, are delivered to Israel only, the chosen nation under the Mosaic covenant.

The scriptural fact that NO Gentiles were part of this event (proven by the shock in Acts 10:45) shows that repent & be baptized is not a universal salvation formula. It was a covenant command made to Israel only.

Nothing in Acts 2 changes Gentile status, Gentile access, or Gentile inclusion, because Gentiles are not present, not addressed & not part of the covenant seals Peter is speaking within.

New Covenant Gentile Inclusion Universal Body Of Christ Begins Here
Acts 10 records the 1st Gentiles entering the New Covenant. Peter preaches Jesus sin atoning death & resurrection. Cornelius & his household hear the gospel (Acts 10:33, 36–43), believe the message (Acts 10:43) & Jesus who knows the heart of man (Matt 9:4, Jn 6:64,Acts 1:24, Rev 2:23) baptizes/immerses them in/with/by His FOREVER indwelling (Jn 14:16), salvation SEALING (Eph 1:13-14, 4:30, 2 Cor 1:22, 5:5) eternal life giving Holy Spirit (Acts 10:44). Only after this does water baptism follow (Acts 10:47–48). This is the Gentile initiation into the New Covenant Body of Christ.

Peter testifies: The Holy Spirit fell on them as on us at the beginning/Pentecost (Acts 11:15). God put no difference between us & them, purifying their hearts by FAITH (Acts 15:9).

This is the moment the OT covenant wall comes down & Gentiles enter the New Covenant by FAITH ALONE. No circumcision, no covenant markers, no water are required to be saved.

Paul later codifies the same pattern: After you HEARD the gospel of your salvation & BELIEVED you were SEALED with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13).

Acts 10 is the Gentile initiation into the New Covenant/Body of Christ & the universal salvation pattern is established for all nations is now the same: Hear > Believe > Receive.

Myles Coverdale a theologian who wrote the Coverdale Bible.
Teaches don't judge Scripture by what is spoken, or written only. When dissecting any verse of scripture: Ask yourself, of whom, to whom, with what words, what time, where, to what intent, with what circumstances, considering what is written before and what follows any single verse context.

Using this method, the pattern is unmistakable: Jesus was sent to Israel, to redeem those under the law & to fulfill the promises made to Israel's fathers. Peter's Pentecost sermon is addressed to Jews only, marking the beginning of the New Covenant for Israel. Gentiles are not offered salvation until Acts 10:44, where Jesus Himself baptizes believing Gentiles with the Holy Spirit, inaugurating the universal Body‑of‑Christ entry formula: Hear > Believe > Receive Holy Spirit.

The apostle Paul served God as a preacher of the gospel with a clear conscience, and yet he was put in prison more than once on false charges. But he regarded his suffering, that it was for the sake of the gospel. And some people are imprisoned on false charges while the guilty go free. For justice is not always served. Sometimes the innocent are incarcerated while the guilty are given the freedom to keep on in their sinful behaviors. But those whose trust is in the Lord must keep trusting the Lord in all things.

For the Scriptures do not teach that if our trust is in the Lord Jesus that we will have an easy life, and that everyone will like us, and that we will never have to suffer. The Scriptures teach us that a walk of faith in Jesus Christ is hard, and that it will mean suffering for the sake of the truth of the gospel, and it will mean being hated because of our walks of faith and because of our testimonies for the truth of the gospel of our salvation. And it may mean that people will speak lies about us and that we may suffer for it.

But when we truly love as God loves, and we love even our enemies, and those who have done evil to us in the past, or in the present, we put our lives at risk that the ones we love may turn against us and do evil against us, and that they might lie about us, and it may cost us much. But, when Jesus left his throne in heaven, and took on human form, he loved his own people. And he spoke the truth of the gospel. And he was hated, and people lied about him, and he was put to death although he had done no wrong.

But we should not let the fear of that overtake us. We must be strong in the strength of the Lord, and put on the armor of God with which to fight off the attacks of our enemy against us. We must commit our lives to the Lord, knowing that we are not promised an easy life and that we may have to suffer and even die for the sake of the truth of the gospel. And we must continue speaking the full gospel message to the people, out of love for God and out of love for our fellow humans, and for their deliverance from sin.

Never should we alter the truth of the gospel out of fear of being hated, rejected, persecuted, betrayed, slandered, incarcerated, or put to death. We must keep on speaking the truth that people need to hear, even if it costs us our reputations or acceptance or friendships or whatever. We must keep teaching that Jesus died to put our sins to death with him so that, by faith in him, we will now die to sin and live to God and to his righteousness in walks of surrender to God in obedience to his commands, so we have life in him.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

Who Believes?

Based off Isaiah 53
An Original Work / October 3, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Gospel message, who believes?
Jesus Christ died on a tree,
Saving us from all our sin,
So we might be cleansed within.

Had no beauty found in Him,
That we should desire Him.
Man of sorrows, suffering;
Crushed for our iniquities.

Surely He has borne our griefs;
From our sadness, brings relief.
Bore the stripes; forsaken, He,
So forgiven we might be.

We, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us turned his own way.
Jesus calls, “Repent today;
My commandments, now obey.”

Jesus said, to come to him,
We must die to all our sin.
Crucified with Him, we live,
Walking in His righteousness.

Suff’ring servants, we will be,
Taking His identity on us,
When confessing Him
As our Savior, Lord and King.

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Retain the Standard of Sound Words
An Original Work / February 28, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

What does persecution look like in North Korea?​

North Korea is arguably the most dangerous place on earth to follow Jesus. If someone is discovered to be a Christian, the consequences are unimaginably stark: either imprisonment in one of its notorious labour camps, with little hope of release, or immediate execution. The same fate is likely to await other family members.

While the church buildings displayed in the capital Pyongyang might suggest a degree of tolerance, this is propaganda. The reality is very different. Christianity has no place in North Korea, a country where homage must be directed one way only: towards the Kim regime. With watchful eyes everywhere – even from neighbours and family – even the slightest hint of worshipping Jesus can have devastating consequences. Remarkably, believers do gather, but in utmost secrecy and at enormous risk.

Recent years have seen conditions worsen further for North Korea’s secret believers. This is largely due to the ‘anti-reactionary thought law’, introduced in 2020, which made it even clearer that being a Christian and owning a Bible is regarded as a serious crime. The law has reinforced just how much of a threat Christianity is seen to be by the country’s unbending regime.

Who is most vulnerable to persecution?​

The dangers facing Christians in North Korea are such that all believers are vulnerable to extreme persecution.

Meet A North Korean Christian​

“Despite these dangers, the underground church in North Korea is alive. It worships not with sound, but with whispered prayers and memorized Scripture. Believers continue to follow Christ with quiet courage, deep faith and a willingness to give everything for the sake of the gospel.”
A NORTH KOREAN CHRISTIAN

Click to expand...

What has changed this year?​

While there have been some notable developments in North Korea in 2025, the overall situation remains largely unchanged. Many negative trends continue to affect the country and its people – including secret believers.

The regime has strengthened its military capabilities, engaged in selective diplomatic interactions, tried to develop tourism and implemented internal policy changes. Meanwhile, the everyday life of its citizens remains intensely harsh, including the devastating impact of its ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The agenda behind all this is unchanged: to strengthen the country’s self-reliance and its strategic positioning on the world stage. For North Korea’s handful of secret believers, that means continued repression and ongoing extreme danger.

What does Open Doors do to help Christians in North Korea?​

Open Doors seeks to strengthen secret believers in North Korea through networks outside the country. This includes emergency relief aid, Christian materials, Christian radio broadcasts and shelter, and training for those who’ve fled the country.

How can you pray for North Korea?​

• Pray for Kim Jong-un and his family. Ask God to change their hearts – knowing that He did the same for the Apostle Paul.
• Communities of faith in North Korea are often small gatherings of families or close friends. Pray that God would protect these beautiful expressions of His church, and that these believers would sense God’s perfect peace.
• Pray for those believers in North Korea affected by a lack of food, that God would help them find the food they need. Pray that they would be given opportunities to wisely share the gospel by caring for others in similar circumstances.

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I was listening to a podcast recently and was reminded that, once upon a time, Tucker Carlson intended for The Daily Caller to rival the NY Times and had gone so far as to admonish conservatives and conservative media for focusing too much on commentary and not enough on reporting news.

"Why aren't there 25 Fox Newses? There oughta be. Don't just comment on the news. Dig it up and make it."

I've made the same argument here many times - that for all the money and power that exists on the right, they should be able to build rivals to mainstream news and media organizations. But they don't. I've illustrated this fact by pointing to the Ad Fontes Media Bias chart and the gaping hole that is the "Fact reporting" section on the right half of the top of the pyramid. Nearly all of the mainstream liberal outlets live on the left half of that section, while the right half is nearly empty. Virtually all of the popular conservative outlets are farther down the pyramid, where the focus is on opinion and the reliability is questionable.

Carlson was obviously wrong, though. The key to success isn't in reporting facts - failures of newsrooms across the country are testament to that, because, as he rightfully pointed out, reporting is hard and expensive. It also doesn't have much of a market on the right. As he discovered, the key to success is going even further, even harder into opinion and unreliability. Polemics is where the money's at.

The imagery reveals catastrophic damage. The structures comprising Khamenei's immediate residence and surrounding security perimeters have been completely levelled.

1. The OSINT Satellite Revelation​

A massive wave of speculation regarding the fate of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been ignited. According to satellite imagery from Airbus Defence and Space obtained by the New York Times, the Tehran residence of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was completely levelled by Israeli Air Force strikes this morning."

2. Ground Zero: The Supreme Leader's Compound​

Continued below.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the cancellation of members of the military attending some of the country’s top-ranked colleges and universities on Friday, beginning academic year 2026-27, arguing the schools are teaching the “enemy’s wicked ideologies” to service members.

Hegseth, who attended Harvard University for postgraduate studies, said the move would affect institutions like Princeton University, Columbia University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brown University, Yale University and “others.”

Earlier this month, Hegseth announced the Pentagon would cut all academic ties with Harvard starting in the 2026-27 school year, contending the country’s oldest university is “one of the red-hot centers of hate-America activism.”

We may indeed see a new regime.

Former President Bill Clinton faced a high-stakes closed-door deposition Friday before the House Oversight Committee, but it was a comment about President Donald Trump that quickly drew attention.

According to House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-(KY), Clinton made clear that Trump had never given him any reason to believe he was involved in wrongdoing connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Comer told reporters Friday afternoon, “The president [Bill Clinton] went on to say that President Trump, has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved and he meant with Epstein.”

Comer added, “So just, I know there’s a lot of curiosity about President Trump. I thought that was an interesting thing that President Clinton said.”

The testimony took place at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center in Westchester County, near the Clintons’ longtime home in New York. The deposition began at 11 a.m. and followed months of negotiations between committee lawyers and Clinton’s legal team. Republicans had previously warned of potential contempt proceedings before Clinton ultimately agreed to appear.

Continued below.

As followers of Jesus Christ, all of us are to be taking the message of the gospel of Christ to the people of the world, which includes to the worldly church, too. And we are to do so unashamedly, without fear of reproach and rejection and/or persecution. And we should not be those who dilute and alter the gospel message to make it less offensive and more acceptable to human flesh out of fear of being mistreated. But we are to speak the truth of God’s word to the people, spoken in love, and without compromise.

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 28:18-20; John 4:31-38; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 10:14-15; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 5:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21; 1 John 2:6]

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

But when we speak the truth of the gospel, as Jesus and his New Testament apostles taught it, in the correct biblical context, and not out of context to appease human flesh, we might not be popular. We may not have large followings. And we might be opposed. We may be rejected and persecuted. And we might have people who will mock us and reject us and turn away from us and think ill of us because we are speaking words which make them not comfortable, but which convict of sin, and which call for repentance.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Acts 26:18]

But don’t let the words of others dishearten and discourage you. Don’t let the rejection and mistreatment you might face when sharing the truth of the gospel make you afraid. And, yes, we are not saved by our own fleshly works but only by the grace of God. But God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. And we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10).

By Your Grace

An Original Work / June 27, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Speak Your words to my heart,
Let Your grace and love impart.
Be to me all I need
To love and serve Christ my King;
To love and serve Christ my King.
Change my heart; be like You;
Let me love and serve in truth.
Guide my steps ev’ry day,
As I bow my knees and pray;
As I bow my knees and pray.

Love You, Lord. You love me.
You died so that I’d go free
From my sin; pure within;
By Your grace I’m saved from sin;
By Your grace I’m saved from sin.
Invite You in my heart;
Now I have a brand new start.
Repented of my sin,
So that I’d be cleansed within;
So that I’d be cleansed within.

Live for You ev’ry day,
List’ning to the words you say.
Make You Lord of my heart;
Be Your witness, grace impart;
Be Your witness, grace impart.
Obey Your ev’ry word;
Do the things I’ve seen and heard.
Your word, Lord, in me burns,
While I wait for Your return;
While I wait for Your return.

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Not Ashamed
An Original Work / February 28, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

I mean, that is what I have always heard. Fortunately, I do live in the U.S. where this law applies.

Now, I'm no lawyer or expert in the law (not even for laws of my own country) but I have seen sheets of paper in the past when I have applied for employment and on there it does cite this law, that employers cannot discriminate against their employees based upon their religion. Or their race, gender, origin, etc. etc. etc. for that matter.

I am actually relieved to have this law around here in the U.S. Otherwise, I think us saints would be in a bad way: we would be hunted and killed all the time by evil people and we would have to try and do something about it. Defend ourselves maybe?

With this our churches are essentially protected and upheld by the law.

Years ago my mom worked a job when I was very little. An employee at her work did try to get her fired because she was a Christian, and I think my mom should have done something about that. Stood up to her maybe legally? I know this was religious persecution and a violation of the law. But unfortunately mom got fired and she had to look for employment elsewhere. I kind of wish she had sued that lady for wrongful termination and religious discrimination. But she didn't want any trouble I remember.

Have you guys ever heard of something like that happening anywhere? I mean, here in the U.S.? Its unheard of. Maybe in other countries its common, but not here!

...is because its basically God's love letter to a lost and dying world.

Those of us who have read the New Testament all the way through (like I have) are touched by Jesus' kindness in how he healed so many ill people. His love towards us sinners and those who don't deserve it is also touching.

Let us strive to be more like Him in all that we do. He is our Example, and our Shining Light.